using optimaster for money??

bosone · Post by **bosone** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 10:45 am

i got recently the optimaster after the premium plugin campaign.

now i was thinking: why don't i use it for making some little money?! i'm not a pro-audio-engineer, nor i have an appropriate setup for mastering (no soundproof room, no decent monitor - yet). but my idea is to propose an "entry level" mastering (at low cost! "medium-low quality=medium-low cost!

) to young groups and musicians in my zone or in italy who don't have a great budget for recording.
even with "basic" preset settings and with little tweaking, with the aid of the "wizard", i found that the results on my music is noticiable. so why not to try?
proposing something like 50 euro for a "basic mastering" of an "amateur recorded CD" can be a good idea?
what are your experiences in this field? do you have any suggestion?
making some money from my gear would be a great improvement!

siberiansun · Post by **siberiansun** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 1:33 pm

many of us would like to exclusively live off our music or our musical/technical skills, many of us are quite satisfied with playing/composing just for the fun of it.

imho, i think that if you're going to sell your services as, in this case, mastering, although you aim to do it at a budget price you should really have some kind of experience/education in mastering anyway.
i don't think it's enough to own a good plug-in and then you're ready to go.

of course if your clients are aware of that your setup and studio isn't ecactly real world studios and ok with that because of the price, then by all means GO!

i do not mean to offend you Bosone i just speak of some personal experiences where friends of mine put all their heart and soul (and money) into a studio recording and ended up with crap because the sound engineer bought himself a studio which he didn't know how to use...

this is all my humble opinion but please be careful to really "sell what you advertise".

peace and merry christmas!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: siberiansun on 2002-12-17 13:35 ]</font>

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 2:51 pm

if your ears are somewhat skilled and you don't have the intention to rip people off, I'd say go for it and learn on the job !

The cases Siberiansun mentiones are quite common, but these people do it intentionally and don't care about their customers, except payment of course.
So in the very beginning you possibly can't provide the service as you'd like to do, but since you're honest you'll outgrow this state rapidly if you're willing to learn. My 2 cent.

good luck, Tom

siberiansun · Post by **siberiansun** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 4:32 pm

yes astroman, of course you're right.

NOTE i surely didn't mean to insinuate that bosone is dishonest in any way.
i just wanted to make a point that it's crucial to play it straight especially when future clients are amateurs and easy targets
to smooth talkers.
better to let them know the facts:
this is what you get for €50. if you want your recordings to slap brian eno's fingers, well cough up an extra €2000 and let's talk.

i hope i managed to explain that i DO NOT want to cast suspicion on anyone in this great forum and i surely don't want to discourage anyone from making money out of their skills.

i think €50 is a very reasonable fee for mastering of a complete album.

good luck bosone and everyone!

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 5:07 pm

sorry, if that formulation by me was misleading.
The 'honesty' was only to make a clear distinction from those 'not knowing anything studio owners', who just see the business opportunity and don't even care about their own (dis-)abilities.
Because these people exist, Bosone doesn't need to be shy as a beginner. Whatever he does, he can't be that bad - he can't be bad anyway because he's a Pulsarian, like you

cheers, Tom

siberiansun · Post by **siberiansun** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 5:34 pm

right on!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 5:47 pm

I think like others here, you have to go into it, but carefully…

Something is sure, you can never give a Master CD to your costumers sounding worst than the original work! This is the basic rule.

Then, I think you need to keep close to one single kind of music, the one you are most likely to know about, something you have been hearing for ages so you know what is the way they do it. Obviously, not everything is mixed the same way! This is real problem for anybody willing to go into this so intricate profession, cos every style has its own world.

I friend of mine in Glasgow, does this job, I mean, he works mastering for new comers and new groups needing a “demo” or a couple of songs for themselves to hear how things are going on. He does it in less than 10 minutes and sounding great, as long as the music is related to Rock or Hard Rock, but if you go to something else, he needs hours or many even days to get some good results. The price is £30.

I don’t think you need to go to the university to do mastering, I think mastering is something you learn through much experience. Of course, if you can study, do it as much as possible. Nothing again studying of course, just to say “studying” is not the way to be a mastering master, but MUCH EXPERIENCE. It’s a great opportunity for you, I completely encourage you to go on…

Post by **garyb** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 8:34 pm

yes,use your ears and it can be done.good monitoring is probably a must if you're gonna do a great job,if the customers just want the presets(which will probably help their amatuer recordings)just don't charge much and you're off and running.it would be a good idea to listen to all the work that you do privately on many different systems so that you can move forward with your knowledge and craft.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2002-12-17 20:35 ]</font>